


and once more

by hyungsobbing



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 00z being dumbasses except seungmin he’s smart, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Crack, Fluff, M/M, Volleyball, friends to strangers to friends to :)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 06:17:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20652569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyungsobbing/pseuds/hyungsobbing
Summary: because people don’t have wings, they look for ways to fly.





	and once more

**Author's Note:**

> stop making skz into jocks challenge FAILED! not even surprised my finger slipped and this came out, but i hope it’s at least a little enjoyable :~)

Like how every disaster began, everything was going fine until it wasn’t.

One moment, Hyunjin was raising his dominant hand to spike the ball across the net, and the next, a loud cry resounds throughout the gymnasium, and he flinches. The ball veers awkwardly off-course, landing outside the court, but he pays no attention to it.

Jisung is collapsed on the floor, clutching his shoulder, face screwed up. “What happened?” Hyunjin crouches down next to him, voice urgent. He doesn’t reply for a while, his breathing shaky and labored from the intense pain. “My…my shoulder.” Jisung rasps, and Chan hurries over. “Your shoulder hurts?” He presses lightly against the joint of his shoulder, and Jisung yelps, wincing.

“I thought you said it was just an ache!” Felix exclaims, and Chan looks sharply up at Felix and then back to Jisung, brow furrowed. “Your shoulder hurt? And you never told us about it?”

Jisung shakes his head mutely, and Hyunjin gasps in dismay when he sees him tear up visibly from the discomfort in his right shoulder. Woojin is already dialing the ambulance to come and pick him up. “Hang in there, Sung-ah.” Chan reassures, tone of voice gentle and reassuring once again, and Jisung whimpers, leaning against his shoulder.

-

“It’s a rotator cuff injury. We’ve ran some preliminary scans and examinations, and we’re not too sure about the exact degree of injury, but I’m able to tell you that there’s at least a partial tear in his rotator cuff tendon.” The doctor says grimly. Chan, in place of Jisung’s parents, sits in the single chair while the rest of the team crowds the room.

“What’s going to happen to Jisung now?” Jeongin pipes up, voice shaky. “We’re finishing up the last of his tests now, and we’ll require him to stay in the hospital for observations for the next few days, followed by possible minor surgery and probably physical rehabilitation.” The doctor tells them a solemn glint in his eyes. “And I think it should go without saying that Mr Han is not allowed to participate in any physical activities for the next six months.”

No one protests, a somber air falling over the room. The doctor dismisses them, telling them to either wait outside for Jisung to come out or go home. “It’s already eight, the rest of you should go home.” Chan says, attempting to shoo all of them out of the ward.

“How about you, hyung?” Hyunjin asks, and Chan frowns. “I’ll wait until Jisung finishes, and then I’ll walk him home.”

He doesn’t say it, but the tension and worry is palpable in the way he carries himself. _He’s blaming himself again, _Hyunjin thinks, and the rest of the team seems to understand this, but none of them seem to know how to diffuse the situation.

“I’ll stay too. The rest of you, hurry home. Your parents will be worried.” Woojin steps forward and sits down beside Chan. “We’ll update you on the date of the next team meeting as soon as we can.”

Unwilling to leave but unable to do anything else, the six of them file out of the hospital ward one by one.

-

“Hey, hey, why are all of you so down?” Jisung walks into the gymnasium a week later, and Changbin is the first to react. “Han Jisung, why are you here?” He shouts, and Jisung laughs, pointing at his shoulder brace and shooting an awkward one-handed thumbs-up at the team. “Doctor discharged me and said I was good to go to school so long as I don’t play any volleyball for the next,” He pauses, wincing, “Six months. Sorry, guys.”

“What do you have to be sorry about? Sure, you were an idiot for not sitting out the moment you felt the pain in your shoulder, but it’s not your fault that you’re injured!” Hyunjin protests as Jisung joins them in sitting in a circle on the floor.

Chan nods in agreement. “You shouldn’t be apologizing for something you had absolutely no control over.”

Jisung smiles, still cheerful as ever despite the uncomfortable-looking brace wrapped tight around his shoulder. “So, should we be discussing about my replacement for qualifiers, or…?”

“We’re not sure if we should still be trying for this year’s nationals with one of our players down.” Woojin says, and Hyunjin startles.

“No, what? You can’t miss out nationals just because of me! It’s the third years’ last year of high school volleyball!” Jisung protests, but Chan shakes his head grimly. “Furthermore, we don’t have a setter now, and it’ll be hard to train an entirely new setter at this point.”

“What if there’s someone who can replace my position as setter?” Jisung asks. Woojin frowns. “Jisung, it’s just not realistic to try to train a new player, and the team dynamics—”

“What if it’s an experienced player we all already know?” Jisung blurts out, and Hyunjin’s mind races, and an immediate image of one person pops up in his head._No, it couldn’t be._

“Who?” Minho asks, but it seemed like the entire team had already arrived at the same conclusion in the span of five seconds.

“Kim Seungmin.” Jisung says, eyes bright and imploring.

“Wait, he’s back?” Changbin says incredulously. “And he didn’t tell me? No one told me?”

Jisung snickers at the matching offended expressions on Changbin and Felix’s face. “I already knew.” Jeongin says. “Yeah, I saw Seungmin in the corridor a few days ago and made him eat lunch with me after school.” Minho laughs as Felix’s face falls even further.

“I saw his mother in town while I was with Woojin, and she mentioned that Seungmin had started school, but we didn’t know it was the same school as us.” Chan says in disbelief, a tiny semblance of a grin beginning to grow on his face.

“So, can we bring him in? Can we?” Jisung says eagerly, and Hyunjin’s mind flashes back to junior high, the last time when the nine of them were together before Seungmin left.

_“Five rounds around the school for being late—go!” Chan blows his tiny whistle, and Seungmin and Hyunjin set off, laughing. Admittedly, they were late—they’d stayed back in class to play the newly-installed games on Seungmin’s first phone, and ended up arriving half an hour late for team practice. _

_“This is all your fault, Hwang Hyunjin!” Seungmin calls, picking up his pace slightly so that he edged in front of Hyunjin, and Hyunjin sticks his tongue out, putting on a burst of speed in order to beat Seungmin. “My mom won’t let me borrow her phone anymore, so what other choice do I have than to borrow yours?” Hyunjin huffs, beginning to feel the strain in his legs after their second round—not that he’d ever admit that to Seungmin._

_“That’s stupid!” Seungmin scoffs, and Hyunjin grins triumphantly when he turns the corner just before Seungmin does. “You’re stupid!”_

_Seungmin reaches out to smack Hyunjin’s arm, and he screeches, dodging out of the way. “You’re stupider!” _

_“Last one to reach the school is the stupidest!” Hyunjin shouts, and both of them begin sprinting like their life depended on it._

“—Hyunjin? Hyunjin, are you on board with this?” Woojin calls, and Felix helpfully reaches out to hit the back of Hyunjin’s head, hard. “Don’t hit him too hard, he’s already stupid enough as it is.” Changbin snorts, and Hyunjin pouts.

“Are you alright with bringing Seungmin back onto the team?” Woojin asks gently, and Hyunjin raises an eyebrow. “What? Why wouldn’t I be?”

Jisung opens his mouth, probably to say something ridiculous or completely unnecessary, but Felix cuts him off just in time. “I don’t know bro, it’s not like you moped over him being gone for the entire rest of junior high and the first year of high school.”

“That is _not_true. I don’t appreciate you spreading false information about me.” Hyunjin flaps one hand around dismissively, glaring at Felix, and Chan interferes before a fight breaks out between them. “Are you okay with it?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Hyunjin rolls his eyes, and Chan smiles at him gratefully. “I think we should send Jeongin to ask Seungmin about re-joining the team.”

“Why me?” Jeongin whines, shooting a glare at Minho.

“You know, because of your cute appeal and all?” Jisung teases, and Chan has to physically insert himself between the both of them before Jeongin is able to throw the volleyball lying next to him right at Jisung’s face.

-

They’re finishing their warm-ups when Jeongin enters the gymnasium, and Hyunjin grumbles quietly under his breath about how Chan has never punished Jeongin for being late. “Maybe it’s just you?” Changbin whispers back, and Hyunjin shoves him grumpily.

“Seungmin told me he’d only join the team if I grew taller than him!” Jeongin announces, and Hyunjin can’t help but snort. “That’s as likely as Hyunjin getting a passing grade in Math.” Minho remarks, and Hyunjin can’t even bring himself to be offended, because he knows very well that it’s true.

“Did he say why he didn’t want to re-join?” Woojin questions.

“He said it was because he wanted to focus on his grades this year.” Jeongin reports, and this time, it’s Felix that rolls his eyes in disbelief. “Please, he’s been topping the level in almost every single subject since junior high, and I heard that he scored full marks for the Chemistry quiz the other day.”

“I failed that one!” Jisung shouts from his position on the sidelines, homework long abandoned. “Me too!” Hyunjin shouts back. “Me three!” Felix adds joyfully, and he sees Chan sigh and shake his head in disappointment.

Jeongin approaches them, throwing his bag to the side. “What are we going to do now?” He frowns, and Minho reaches out to mess up his hair. “I say we send Hyunjin now.”

All eyes immediately turn to Hyunjin, and he raises his hands in defense. “Wait, I can’t. I haven’t talked to him at all since he came back to town.”

“All the more you should be the one going to him! We’re giving you the perfect opportunity to start talking to him.” Woojin encourages, but Hyunjin isn’t convinced. “It’ll be awkward!” He whines.

“You’re awkward. It doesn’t make a difference.” Jisung shouts again, and Hyunjin makes an aborted rude gesture at him.

“Just go and talk to him, you coward.” Changbin scoffs, but Hyunjin doesn’t pay attention to him.

“We’ll buy you meat buns from the roadside vendor for the next week.” Minho offers. “Did I agree to that?” Felix complains, but Hyunjin’s already turning to Minho with an interested glint in his eye.

“For the next two weeks if you manage to convince him.” Minho continues, and Hyunjin pretends to think over it, as if he wasn’t already planning the best route to confront Seungmin.

“For the next month!” Chan throws in, and Hyunjin nods in agreement, beaming widely. “Consider it done.”

-

He regrets ever saying that. In fact, he regrets ever having so much confidence in his ability to not turn into a stuttering mess at the thought of having to talk to Seungmin for the first time in two years.

First, he asks his mom for help. “Mom, did you know Seungmin was back in town?”

His mom throws the seasoned carrots into the pan, and the oil splashes out slightly. “Yeah, his mother and I went out the other day to catch up.”

Hyunjin gasps, affronted. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you already knew, honey. Now, can you help me get the pickle jar from the top shelf?”

“Do you think he’ll mind if I go and talk to him?” Hyunjin asks, but his mom waves the wooden spoon at him absentmindedly. “The pickles, Hyunjin!”

-

Next, he asks Felix for help—which, on hindsight, wasn’t his brightest decision. “I’ll help you if you finish this entire booklet for me.” Felix mumbles, head bent over the ten-page Chemistry handout.

“That’s not fair, I haven’t even started!” Hyunjin complains.

“Hyunjin, it’s due today.” Felix snorts, flapping a hand at him just as the teacher walks in, and he’s forced to go back to his seat.

“Okay, have all of you finished the booklet I handed out last week?” The teacher taps the board, and Hyunjin freezes in horror as he realises he hadn’t even brought his booklet.

-

“Please, hyung, you have to help me. I don’t think I’m physically capable of talking to Seungmin, please, please, please!” Hyunjin begs, standing right outside the doorway of Minho’s third year classroom.

“What’s in it for me?” Minho asks, eyebrows raised and lips pursed in a way that Hyunjin knows he’s holding back a laugh.

“My…love?” He hesitates, and Minho rolls his eyes. “You already love me, Hyunjinnie, you have to try harder than that.”

“A week’s worth of bubble tea after practice?” He mourns over the potential hole in his wallet, but it’s worth it when Minho nods, sticking out a hand for him to shake. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

-

He regretted ever agreeing to talk to Seungmin, but regretted asking Minho to help him even more. Minho stands behind the pillar, texting instructions on his phone to Hyunjin.

**Minho**: ok hes going to come out of his class in less than half a minute

**Hyunjin**: what?????? So fast

**Minho**: god ur so annoying you’ve been like this for the past half an hour can u just GO

**Hyunjin: **oh my god oh my god their class ended I SEE JISUNG

**Minho: **good, now go talk to seungmin

**Hyunjin: **GOING!!!

He doesn’t approach Seungmin, because he doesn’t get the opportunity to. Jisung spots him texting Minho in the hallway, and in true Jisung fashion, outs him immediately. “Hyunjin! What are you doing here?” He shouts, running down the hallway.

“Shut up, shut up!” He hisses frantically, eyes darting around. At that exact moment, Seungmin emerges from the classroom, and looks directly at him.

_God, _what happened to the nerdy boy back in junior high? “Wow,” Hyunjin breathes out, gaze darting from the mop of (newly?) dyed red hair and the circle glasses that framed his face perfectly, and down to the adorable sweater tied around his waist. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Jisung snorts, and Hyunjin desperately hopes that Seungmin hadn’t heard him.

“Oh, Hyunjin!” Seungmin’s walking towards him far too quickly for Hyunjin to come up with an appropriate response, so he just stares at him, mouth wide.

“Okay, I’ll leave the both of you alone now—Minho! Let’s go for lunch.” Jisung spots the senior leaning around the edge of the pillar to eavesdrop, and Hyunjin tries to signal to Minho to_not leave him alone_, but Minho ignores him, smiling and walking off with Jisung.

“Hyunjin, do you not remember me?” Seungmin says, and Hyunjin turns his head so fast he’s surprised he doesn’t get whiplash.

He waves his hands, alarmed. “Yes! I mean no, of course I remember you! How could I forget?” He blurts out, cheeks flushing red as the student walking past them gives him a judgmental glance.

“That’s good.” Seungmin beams, and Hyunjin’s surprised he isn’t a puddle on the ground by now.

“Uh,” He says lamely, fingers twitching for something to do by his side.

“You wanna go get lunch together? I just came back and it seems like they upgraded the neighbourhood a little, so I’m not very familiar with the place anymore. Did they take away the meat bun shop?” Seungmin asks, already beginning to head towards the staircase.

“No, it’s still there, they just shifted to a different street.” Hyunjin jogs to catch up, and they fall into step side-by-side immediately—just like how they were, years ago.

-

“—and like, Minho stood up and threw his hamburger at Changbin, who threw his sausage back at Minho but missed, so it hit Jisung, and Jisung threw his packet of fries and hit Jae—you know that senior who retained?—and then Jae threw his entire lunch tray back, and all of them ended up getting detention.” Hyunjin chats animatedly, all the initial nerves from meeting Seungmin long gone. He’d forgotten how comfortable and easy talking to Seungmin was.

Seungmin laughs, and takes another bite of his meat bun. “Did you get detention too?”

“Nah, Mr Park loves me and Felix too much for us to get detention, so he pretended not to know of our involvement.” Hyunjin boasts triumphantly, and Seungmin rolls his eyes.

“And then, after that, they were all late for volleyball practice, so Chan made them run ten rounds around the school. Remember that time he made us run five and we were so tired we thought dying would have been better? Yeah, Jisung actually collapsed and didn’t get back up for an hour.” Hyunjin recounts, smile stretching across his face.

“Oh, how’s the volleyball team?” Seungmin asks curiously, and Hyunjin remembers his original intention of talking to Seungmin in the first place.

“Do you want to join the team? Jeongin probably told you, but Jisung got injured and we need a replacement—not that you’re a replacement! Don’t tell him this, but I think you’re a better setter than him. Anyway, please join us! We all miss you a lot. You can say no, of course, there’s no pressure, but please?” Hyunjin stops abruptly upon the realization that he’d been rambling for the past few minutes.

“Yeah, sure.”

“If you don’t want to, it’s really okay! But I really want you back in the team, there’s no one else who sets for me like you do.” Hyunjin continues.

“Hyunjin, I said I’d join.” Seungmin laughs at the dumbfounded expression on his face, and takes the opportunity to steal Hyunjin’s third meat bun out of his grasp and shove it into his mouth whole. Hyunjin can’t even defend himself, because he’s busy gaping at Seungmin.

“You would?” He gasps. “But you told Jeongin you wouldn’t!”

Seungmin shrugs nonchalantly, chewing on the stolen meat bun. “Well, I changed my mind, I guess.”

“Thank you!” Hyunjin squeals, and hugs him tightly. “I promise I’ll share my weeks’ worth of meat buns with you.”

“Do I want to know what that’s about?” He arches an eyebrow, and Hyunjin shakes his head vehemently, still holding on to Seungmin.

He stays like that for a little while longer, soaking in the presence of his best friend. He’d almost forgotten how nice it was to just be with Seungmin. “I really, really missed you so much. There’s no one else that laughs at my jokes.” He sighs.

“I don’t laugh at your lame jokes, I laugh at you. There’s a big difference.” Seungmin scoffs, but has his arms wrapped equally tightly around Hyunjin. “Now, how about we plan a prank to play on them when I return to the team?”

-

Hyunjin’s never been the best at keeping a poker face, no matter how hard he’s tried. But Seungmin had squished his cheeks together just before he went in, saying seriously, “If we pull this off, I promise I will give you the answers to the next Math assignment.”

_Okay, Hyunjin, do it for the passing grades. _He thinks determinedly, and pushes the gymnasium doors open. The rest of the team is already there, and they immediately turn around to stare at Hyunjin.

“So, have you managed to convince Seungmin? Your meat buns are at stake!” Minho calls, and Hyunjin lowers his head in attempt to hide the grin on his face.

“No, I didn’t.” Hyunjin says, and Changbin boos. “See, told you he was a coward!

Hyunjin masks his snort of laughter as a cough, and looks solemnly up at the team. “It’s alright, we’ll get Chan to go beg him next.” Woojin says calmly.

“He said he hated volleyball!” Hyunjin pouts, and Felix gasps. “No way. You’re lying.”

“I’m serious! He told me he’d never join back ever again,” Hyunjin can’t resist but add, “And he said he hates Minho’s cats.”

“What the hell? He didn’t say that.” Minho cries out.

He has to physically turn away, covering his mouth with his hand to stifle his giggles. “Are you crying?” Jeongin says, doubt coloring his tone. Hyunjin tries to turn back around, tell them that no, he wasn’t crying, but he can’t seem to stop laughing, shoulders shaking.

“Hey, guys!” A new voice calls, and Hyunjin collapses on the ground in laughter when he sees Jisung’s shocked expression. “I—” He wheezes, tears leaking from his eyes.

“Sorry that Hyunjin is such a terrible actor.” Seungmin continues, and there’s a split second of processing time until someone reacts. “Why didn’t you come to see us when you came back?” Changbin shouts, affronted, as Felix runs up to Seungmin, looping his arms around Seungmin’s neck in a vice-like grip.

“Oops? Guess I just forgot.” Seungmin says, voice muffled. “You little shit.” Changbin rolls his eyes and joins in on Felix’s chokehold on Seungmin, rubbing his head a little too hard.

“Does that mean you’re joining the team?” Chan asks hopefully, and Seungmin shoots him a thumbs-up from where he’s being smothered by Felix and Changbin.

“Group hug!” Jisung announces, much to Seungmin’s dismay, as they all pile on top of him, shouting with happiness.

-

The first practice with the nine of them together doesn’t go as well as Hyunjin had imagined.

When Seungmin sets his first ball, his fingers slip against the surface and the ball falls to the ground anticlimactically. “It’s okay, try again!” Chan encourages, and after a while more, they split up into groups to practice serving, blocking and setting.

Hyunjin follows Seungmin and Jisung to the side, where Jisung is refreshing the tips and tricks of setting perfectly to Seungmin. “Don’t worry, you haven’t played in two to three years, isn’t it? With a little more practice, you’ll be as good as you were last time. Maybe even better than me.” Jisung encourages, but Seungmin frowns.

“I don’t know about that.” Seungmin says lowly.

“No, that type of mentality isn’t accepted here! Come on, I’ll toss to you and you try setting over the net again.” Jisung readies the ball, and Seungmin gets into position.

“You can do it, Seungminnie!” Hyunjin cheers, and Seungmin shoots him a small smile.

-

“Mom, I’m home!” Hyunjin shouts, kicking his shoes off and flopping on the couch and closing his eyes.

“You never learnt how to put your shoes away properly, huh?” Someone comments, and Hyunjin startles. That wasn’t his mother.

“Seungmin!” He says excitedly when his eyes land on the boy lounging on the other end of the couch comfortably, fond smile on his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Your mom invited my mother over, and I wanted to see Kkami, so I tagged along.” Seungmin whistles, and suddenly, a small blur of black and white fur races up to the couch. “Baby!” Hyunjin coos, and Kkami switches her attention from Seungmin to Hyunjin, scrabbling up the couch. Hyunjin picks her up and sets her on his lap, running a hand through her fur.

Seungmin pouts. “And just when I thought she liked me more than you.”

“Never!” Hyunjin kisses the top of Kkami’s head. “You love me the most, don’t you, baby?”

“Oh, Hyunjin!” Seungmin’s mom walks into the living room, arms outstretched. Hyunjin places Kkami on Seungmin’s lap, standing up to return her hug. “I haven’t seen you in so long!”

“You still look as young as ever, Mrs Kim!” Hyunjin compliments, and she swats Hyunjin’s arm lightly, smiling. “Don’t try to flatter me, Hyunjin. You’re such a handsome boy now!”

“I think Seungmin’s still more handsome than me, though.” Hyunjin sits back down on the couch, closer to Seungmin. “Oh, is that so?” Mrs Kim teases, patting Hyunjin fondly on the head as she leaves to go back to the kitchen. “You boys have fun, alright? We’ll be staying for dinner, by the way!”

When she’s safely out of earshot, Hyunjin turns back to Seungmin, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Wanna come up and play with my switch? I have Overcooked 2 on it.”

Seungmin scoffs, already taking the stairs two at a time. “You wish!”

-

Honestly, he should have expected this. There’s no mistaking the big 18 circled in red pen on his mid-year examinations. “Hey, how did you do?” Felix shouts, leaning over his desk mate’s table to yell at Hyunjin.

“I failed.” Hyunjin replies gloomily, thumping his head on the table.

“Me too!” Felix snorts, and the teacher shoots a glare at the both of them. “How much did you get?”

“Eighteen.” He signals with his fingers to Felix, who breaks into a smile immediately. “I got nineteen! I beat you this time.”

He groans, hiding his face in his arms. “Mom’s gonna murder me.”

Hyunjin sits through the rest of his class in the same position, not even looking up when the dismissal bell rings and the teacher leaves the class. “I don’t want to go for practice.” He moans when Felix knocks on the table.

“Too bad.” Felix says heartlessly, pulling on Hyunjin’s hair. He yelps, swatting Felix’s hands away. “Okay, okay, I’m going!”

-

Changbin laughs when he hears of Felix’s score, and laughs even harder when he hears that Hyunjin got one mark below Felix’s nineteen. “I got twenty!” Jisung shouts, and the three of them share a look of silent commiseration.

“Seungmin, what did you get?” Minho asks, and Seungmin looks up from where he’s practicing with Jeongin. “Ninety-four.” He says casually, and everyone gapes at him.

“How? The highest I got in second year was fifty-three!” Changbin yells, and Seungmin smiles smugly. “I study, Changbin.”

“I study too!” Felix whines, and Minho tosses a dismissive glance at him. “No, you don’t. You sit at your table until you fall asleep.”

“Don’t worry about scoring badly, Felix. If you think too hard when you don’t have a brain, you’re going to hurt your head.” Jeongin snarks.

“That’s more than five times my score!” Hyunjin scowls in disbelief.

“I’ll tutor you.” Seungmin tells him. “For free?” Hyunjin gasps.

“No, I’m borrowing your switch every time I go over.”

“Me too! Tutor me too, please.” Felix begs, and Seungmin shakes his head. “No. Only Hyunjin.”

“Only me?” Hyunjin smiles triumphantly and sticks out his tongue at the rest of them when Seungmin nods, spinning the volleyball on one finger.

-

“Ah, I forgot my water bottle. You go first, I’ll see you tomorrow in school.” He waves to Minho and Woojin, and turns to walk back to the school.

Hyunjin doesn’t expect anyone to still be in the gymnasium when he reaches back—it’s almost half past six in the evening. Which is why, when he hears the familiar thudding of a ball against the walls, he’s instantly on guard. Did someone break into the compound to steal their balls? Why would they do that? Was it an enemy team?

Taking a deep breath, he flings open the doors of the gymnasium, ready to dial their local police to report a breaking-in, but—

“Woah, why are you back again?” Seungmin pants, hunched over. There are dozens of balls scattered on the court, and sweat drips down his forehead.

Lowering his hands, he squints at Seungmin. “Why are _you_here?”

“You know…practice.”

“Practice? It’s at least been half an hour since practice ended! Won’t Mrs Kim be worried?” Hyunjin says, concerned as he walks to Seungmin. On closer inspection, he can see the harsh redness on Seungmin’s palms, and bruises on his forearm.

Seungmin sighs. “It doesn’t matter, I’m just practicing for a while more.”

“It does!” Hyunjin bursts, worry increasing exponentially when he notices the growing eyebags under Seungmin’s eyes, and the tiredness on his face. How had no one noticed this before? How had he not picked up on this?

“You don’t understand, okay? I joined the team after almost three years of no volleyball at all, and right now, I’m even worse than a beginner. Jisung is a great setter, and if I don’t measure up to him in some way, I’m just failing the team’s expectations of me, and you’ll regret ever asking me to join.” Seungmin finishes softly, hair falling over his eyes as he looks down.

Hyunjin gapes wordlessly at him, beginning to feel guilty for not realizing the burden they’d put on Seungmin. “I’m sorry, Seungminnie.” Hyunjin frowns, pulling the shorter into a hug, resting his chin on top of his head.

“No, you shouldn’t be sorry for anything.” Seungmin protests, but Hyunjin shushes him. “I’ll do my best help you out from now on. I mean, a setter can’t be any good without his spiker, can he?” Hyunjin promises.

Seungmin is silent for a while, and Hyunjin lets go off him slowly. “Don’t get too big-headed, Hwang Hyunjin. What’s a spiker without his setter?” Seungmin rolls his eyes, and Hyunjin is beyond relieved to see the determined spark back in his eyes.

-

Even with Seungmin’s help, studying is hard, and Hyunjin hates—no, detests it. “What’s the name of the ester that you get when you react methanol and butanoic acid?” Seungmin points at the question printed on the paper, and Hyunjin stares blankly at it.

“Sodium chloride?” He guesses.

“No, the ester that you get when you react a carboxylic acid and an alcohol is…?”

“Ethanol?”

To his credit, Seungmin doesn’t throw his pen at him or hit him. “Methyl butanoate, remember?”

“Yeah.” Hyunjin agrees, not understanding at all.

“You don’t remember, do you?” Seungmin sighs, and Hyunjin shrugs helplessly.

“Maybe we’ve been going about it the wrong way. Hyunjin, what part of organic chemistry do you not understand?” Seungmin asks patiently, and Hyunjin frowns, thinking.

“Enthalpy change?” He tries.

This time, Seungmin lets out an audible groan, poking Hyunjin in the head with his pen. “That’s not even under organic chemistry.”

“It isn’t?”

“Okay, what part of organic chemistry _do_you understand?” Seungmin looks at him hopefully, but Hyunjin hasn’t been listening since the beginning of the topic—actually, since the beginning of the year. Wait, maybe since the beginning of high school?

When he’s met with total silence, Seungmin sighs for the nth time that day. “Okay, let’s start from the beginning of last year. Acids and bases, right?”

-

“How’s your tutoring going?” Woojin asks during team dinner the next week.

“Good.” Seungmin says.

At the same time, Hyunjin says, “Terrible.”

Changbin bursts out into laughter, and Hyunjin scowls and hits him. “Maybe it isn’t the best, but Hyunjin isn’t bad student. Just…”

“Stupid?” Minho offers.

“I was about to say inattentive.” Seungmin rolls his eyes, and Hyunjin beams at him. “You’re the only one who loves me around here.”

“But the other day, I asked him what would happen if sodium hydroxide was added to hydrochloric acid, and he said that it would explode.” Seungmin continues, and Chan snorts.

“He’s not wrong, though?” Felix asks, confused.

“Felix, even I know what happens, and I’m a year below all of you.” Jeongin reaches over to steal Hyunjin’s chicken drumstick.

“I was going to offer to Jisung and Felix tutor as well, but I don’t really want three Hyunjins together. One is enough.” Seungmin laughs.

Hyunjin coos, leaning over the table to squish his cheeks together, uncaring of the way his sleeves touch the soy sauce on his plate. “I knew you loved me the most, Seungminnie!”

“Actually, he said he didn’t want any more of you, but we all know Hyunjin has highly selective hearing, so,” Minho fake gags as Hyunjin blows a flying kiss at Seungmin, who catches it and pretends to swallow it. “I didn’t ask for this!”

“You kind of did, when you and Chan promised Hyunjin a week’s worth of meat buns if he managed to convince Seungmin to join the volleyball team.” Changbin points out.

Minho huffs in exasperation. “Yeah, why did I even agree to that? The entire school knows Seungmin’s biggest weakness is Hyunjin.”

“You know, I would be offended, but I’m not, because the only reason why I’m friends with him is for his mom’s cooking.” Seungmin says thoughtfully.

“Hey!” Hyunjin pouts, and hears Felix pretending to throw up from beside him.

“And also, because you’ll be sharing that weeks’ worth of meat buns with me.”

**Author's Note:**

> ok i STILL don’t know how to link on ao3 but my twitter is @apollohyucks! lets be mutuals (altho im ia rn cause studies kicking my ass) and talk about seungjin (or dojae or hyuckhei or chensung or anyth im friendly i swear) <3 
> 
> im so sorry if ur not a haikyuu fan the title is a reference to hq the summary is taken straight from haikyuu...if u look ull find quotes from haikyuu in the fic i promise im not a weeb.
> 
> i. am. nowhere. near. complete. with the next chapter im sorry i have 1 line written...but Soon.
> 
> as usual, not edited so please please point out any mistakes u catch! love u, have a good day :^)


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